Some years ago, author Dirk Louw penned an illuminating and beautiful article entitled “The African Concept of Ubuntu and Restorative Justice.” While I’d certainly suggest reading it in full, I’ll attempt to do my best to convey its flavor – a snippet of content but more importantly, the spirit of the message.
“Ubuntu” carries a multitude of meanings and values, not entirely easy to capture. It’s an “aphorism” – akin to what we know as a cliché. So, the word manages to serve as both pithy yet deeply and collectively resonant, especially for those who’ve lived their way into its felt reality. Here, it’s also critical to acknowledge that attempts to translate the term and accompanying conceptions without immersive context will largely prove insufficient. Additionally, the word is defined differently depending upon who and where you ask about it. Regionally, the Zulu and Sotho versions (both Bantu languages) translate the word to mean: “A person is a person through other persons … (ubuntu as) both a factual description and a rule of conduct or social ethic.”
In addition to aphorism, ubuntu is also a jurisprudence. According to Dial Dayana Ndima, ubuntu alongside “African customary law, and the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights … (are) sources of African jurisprudence from which to extract common principles that represent uniquely African views of law and society.” Echoing this notion, Louw also writes about ubuntu’s prominence in the Interim Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (which Dial notes was “the first authoritative document to publicly proclaim the concept at a time of intense national anxiety in the transition towards majority rule and national reconciliation.”) South Africa’s first Constitution met and addressed gross human rights violations in restrained, poignant, and what we now recognize as “restorative” ways. Where retribution was a seemingly right fit for the harms and degradation of apartheid, a different ethos reigned. One that prioritized truth – through the acknowledgment of harms and their resultant consequences – over vengeance as the starting point for justice.
In showcasing the jurisprudential connection between restorative justice and ubuntu, Louw isolates some key points of overlap and symbiosis. Specifically, Louw highlights the following: agreement, community, religion/spirituality, particularity individuality and historicity. I’ll cover these first few now and the remaining points next month.
Agreement: Ubuntu and its restorative kin both underscore the importance of building consensus. Coming to an agreement in a restorative process can be arduous, including pre-conferencing to assess readiness/capacity. If appropriate, in a standard “victim-offender dialogue,” those who have caused harm as well as those who have been harmed and possibly community members will be invited to meet and move toward a shared understanding of and resolution of the harm – both its inception and impacts. Louw jokes while pointing out that Africans have “an almost infinite capacity for the pursuit of consensus and reconciliation.” He highlights the large variety of consensus building dialogue options, such as an indaba – open discussion for those with a common interest, a lekgotla – discussion at a secluded venue, and an imbizo – mass discussion for issues of national concern.
Community: Generally, ubuntu and restorative justice both emphasize inclusivity, belonging, interconnectedness, or “a sense in which humanity itself constates a kind of family.” Importantly, the African notion of this interconnectedness is augmented to include an “unbroken and infinite chain of relation … (among) the triad of the living, the living-dead ancestors) and the yet-to-be born.” This continuity of community extends our responsibility, asking us to align with right action not just for our present selves but for our past and future selves.
Religion/Spirituality: Both ubuntu and restorative justice strive for communal harmony and equilibrium. For ubuntu this approach is one naturally integrated/woven. Take a moment. Drink in the wisdom that follows, an explanation by M. Griaule that personifies this approach:
“The alter gives something to a man, and a part of what he receive(s) he passes on to others … A small part of the sacrifice is for oneself, but the rest if for others. The forces released enter into the man, pass through him and out again, and so it is for all … As each man gives to all the rest, so he also receives from all. A perpetual exchange goes on between men, an unceasing movement of invisible currents. And this must be so if the universal order is to endure … for it’s good to give and to receive the forces of life.”
Breathe. Let these ideas soak their way deep into your bones. Luxuriate in the passing of knowledge that continues to flow between us despite untold attempts at disruption. While many of us were not afforded the opportunity to grow up intimately with the word ubuntu, we know its meaning. Our truths perpetually reside within us.